Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2023
Sustainability
Our Sustainability Framework
Our Purpose, the sustainable improvement of animal health and welfare globally, continues to guide all that we do and we are embedding our Making a Difference sustainability strategy deeper within the business.
Our Integrated Approach
This year, we have made a subtle but important change to how we think about and present the interaction between our corporate strategic enablers and our Sustainability strategy.
Our corporate growth strategy remains very much unchanged, consisting of four clear strategic drivers. Historically, we have regarded delivery of this strategy as being driven by the Strategic Enablers of Manufacturing & Supply, Technology, People and ESG.
However, such is the importance that we place on building a resilient, sustainable business capable of delivering superior long term performance, it became clear to us that ESG is no longer a standalone Strategic Enabler. Rather, it has in fact become central to all that we do. In recognition of this, we have taken the opportunity to re-position our sustainability strategy such that it now serves as a fundamental underpin to delivering our corporate growth strategy and, ultimately, our Purpose. Doing so will help deliver even better alignment between our corporate and sustainability strategies, including a clearer way of demonstrating their interdependencies.
Our long term approach to sustainability, articulated through our Making a Difference strategy, remains centred around the four pillars of Business, Environment, People and Community, and more information on our progress this year can be found in our standalone Sustainability Report.
Our Approach to Materiality
Our Material Issues
Animal Health & Welfare
Human Rights
Equality and the Workplace
Trust and Transparency
Customer Satisfaction
Living Wage Policy
Waste Management
Integrated Climate Strategy
Plastic Leakage
Community Involvement
Philanthropic Activities on Grass Root Level
Sustainability Strategy Update
| Sustainability Pillar | Sustainability Topic | Target(s) | Performance in the 2023 financial year |
|---|---|---|---|
Our Business | Animal Health and Welfare | Invest 5% to 6% of revenue on product development per annum | 7.6% invested in Research & Development (see note 1 below) |
| Customer Satisfaction | Provide 100,000 of continuous professional development (CPD) hours per annum | 204,912 CPD hours provided globally | |
| Trust and Transparency | Perform value chain sustainability assessment by June 2030 | Project remains on track | |
Our Environment | Integrated Climate Strategy | Reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in line with climate science through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi); Achieve net zero by 2050; 100% FSC paper & wood by June 2023 | 13% reduction in GHG emissions intensity ratio (see note 2 below); Science based targets submitted to the SBTi; 66% FSC paper & wood (see note 3 below) |
| Waste Management | Zero to landfill by June 2025 | Reduced waste sent to landfill from 7% to 5% | |
| Plastic Leakage | Review full product range by June 2025 | Project remains on track | |
Our People | Wage Policy | Remain a Living Wage Employer or equivalent | Retained UK accreditation and pay relative to OECD standards |
| Human Rights | Zero lost time accidents (LTAs) | 17 LTAs | |
| Equality in the Workspace | Increase the number of women in senior and technical roles | Reduced gender pay gap from 1.7% to 1.3% | |
Our Community | Community Involvement | 100,000 community hours by June 2030 | 3,147 hours this year 7,537 hours cumulative (three years) |
| Philanthropic Activities | £5 million donated in cash or products by June 2030 | £633,645 this year £1,361,297 cumulative (three years) |
1. Our longer term target is to invest between 5% and 6% of revenue on R&D. However, for financial years 2023 to 2025 inclusive, we have committed to temporarily increasing this investment to between 7% and 8% to help drive further innovation and future growth.
2. The GHG emissions intensity ratio is calculated with reference to our Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions reported historically under the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, which differs to our carbon footprint for the purposes of Science Based Targets. See our Annual Report for further details.
3. We did not meet our target to source 100% of our internally procured paper & wood from FSC sources by the end of June 2023, with 66% of our suppliers currently FSC approved. Wherever possible, we have endeavoured to adopt a localised approach to sourcing FSC materials and to work collaboratively with existing suppliers rather than adopt a blanket approach across all Dechra operations. This process has taken longer than anticipated, however we expect to achieve our target by June 2024.
Task Force on Climate-
related Financial Disclosures
Our Commitment to Climate Change
We believe that companies should be transparent about how they plan to mitigate and be resilient in the face of climate change. Therefore, we support efforts, such as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), to increase transparency and to promote stakeholders understanding of companies’ strategies to respond to the risks and opportunities presented by climate change.
Visit our dedicated online Sustainability Report
We are making a difference through the sustainable improvement in global animal health and welfare.
View our online Sustainability Report
www.dechra.sustainabilityreport2023.com
